Khadi – The non violent fabric

Khadi is one of the primary activities of the Trust. Khadi is hand spun and hand woven fabric. Khadi even today is one of the major livelihoods in rural India. Mahatma Gandhi the father of the nation brought khadi to the limelight and shaped this humble rural activity as a powerful tool to fight the English. Hence khadi has cultural and as well as political importance in the Indian context of late environmental concerns have turned their attention to Khadi and handloom industry is gaining recognition as a green industry.

Melkote was well known for handloom weaving. Till recently Melkote Dhoti was a unique and much sought after product. With the advent of power looms and mill products the craft has all but vanished. In this context the Trust is striving to revive and popularise a local tradition.

Khadi yarn on a loom

Ready Khadi garments

Even though The Trust is a recognised khadi institution by Khadi and village Industries commission of Govt of India. The Trust seeks a minimum support from KVIC and is focusing to make khadi products market savvy and built a loyal client base from among urban community. This has helped the Trust to reduce the state support to minimum

The Khadi produced at the centre is natural dyed khadi and the quality is on par with the best produced in India. Along with yarn dyeing unit it has its own stitching unit to produce attractive fashionable garments. It also runs a small show room in Melkote to sell it products.

Local rural women and traditional weaver community manage all the activities. To maintain quality and fashion update, a lot of enthusiastic designer friends are involving themselves in this initiative.